The Commercial

I am a beer drinker.

That doesn’t mean that I drink a lot of beer, but I do like the odd glass.

I prefer beer to wine, Champagne, Cava, spirits and pop (soda). I don’t mind any of those drinks, I don’t mind them at all – but I generally prefer to drink beer.

I like draught beer.

I don’t dislike the beer that comes in tins or bottles (although, they are a story to themselves), I simply prefer beer on tap; the draught beer that can only be purchased in pubs. I like the texture of draught beer and these days, the variety of tastes and colours with which it now presents itself.

I don’t visit pubs all that often; sometimes just once a week, sometimes more, sometimes less. Unless I’m walking I rarely have more than a pint and on the odd occasion I have more than that, Sharon will drive. I don’t go for company at the pub, I go for the beer – and to relax away from home for an hour with Sharon, as we both (often) work from home. It’s a break.

Locally, I am blessed with a variety of pubs that serve an ever changing variety of beers on tap. My preference is The Commercial in Slaithwaite. http://www.commercial-slaithwaite.co.uk/. If we go out during the week, it used to be there that we went – pretty exclusively. But not so much now.

Why?

Because, at the time we go (early evening, before dinner) you cannot get to the bar for all of the lazy, ignorant tossers leaning on it! I could understand if the place was heaving, but at that time it’s just pleasantly busy with lots of room around the place – we never fail to get one of the comfy settees they have. Neither would I mind if those folks moved back from the bar just while I looked at what was on offer this week (sometimes, just tonight) and gave my order, but more often than not an “excuse me please” just gets a grunt and once I even got a “can’t you read the fucking blackboard?” (ignoring the fact that the blackboard can’t serve me) – but he was pissed and reprimanded by one of the other regulars.

What is it about leaning on a bar that makes people forget that others need to get by?

All I want to do is walk to the bar, choose a drink, pay for it and then walk away, sit down and drink it. What’s hard about that? What makes people so ignorant that I want to change my watering hole?

Rant over.

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Lazy Bastards

I’d initially thought that I’d call this short post ‘dirty bastards’ but I’m not sure that would have been exactly right. Lazy is a truer description of the dog owners who scoop up their dog poo into tiny plastic bags (so far so good – not too dirty then?) and then throw the plastic bags into the undergrowth.

Lazy, thoughtless bastards!!!!

This is something that has taxed me for a while. I go for a walk with John Rousell every Saturday I can (hence the blog title) and at other times, I walk whenever and as often as I can. I like walking and it helps to keep me fit. However, more and more, I see these tiny plastic parcels along my route.

My routes vary. Over the year, John and I will cover most of Kirklees and some of the surrounding areas; we have apple tree walks, canal walks, reminiscences walks (around areas we used to live) – pretty much all kinds of walk across a variety of terrains. And as we walk we see more and more of those little plastic bags of dog shit.

Surely it would be better to just let the dog crap and walk away? At least the canine faecal matter will degrade at some time – the plastic won’t!  Not that that’s the answer – I actually applaud those dog owners who have the care and commitment to carry shit collecting equipment with them and to take the dog poo away with them for proper disposal.

But those dog owners who just chuck the shitbags away are lazy, thoughtless, ignorant bastards.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/crustyscumbrothersontour/2065702929/ Thanks for using creative commons.

 

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